I'm On My Own Roads

Veins are wild roads and my rage 

Drives through them;

Meeting dead ends, boiling my blood.

Rotten roots collide—I cannot sing.


I'm paved with lost destiny or

Halted dreams that remain soldered

To any burnt-out lamppost abandoned.


Signs simmer, metal clanging

On hellish asphalt as selfish drivers

Run them over—they won't look back.


My thumb points out, looking for a chance

To steal, a ride to take, but I have

An inkling that it won't do any good.


I'm on my own roads—I see


A sign I missed in my cracked

Rearview mirror and I've come to

Realize that these roads have my ownership.


I am the one who paved them, while I think

Others run me down and destroy;

Flinging cracks into my hard work—

Boiling me from the inside.


Most importantly, I now know I

Could've stopped it with roadblocks

Manifested by the self-worth that I


Chose to bury deep in the woods—realizing

It is not too late to dig it up, wash off the

Dirt in the oncoming rain, and then

Promptly drive away.